Posted in Movies, Recommendations, Reminder, Television, Video on December 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »
The Hallmark Channel holiday movie Christmas At Cartwright’s will debut on December 7 at 8 PM.
Nicky is a single mom, unemployed and broke at Christmas and desperate to find a job in order to make her young daughter’s holiday a happy one. With the aide of an angel, she gets a job as a department store Santa and also happens to meet the love of her life.
The cast includes Alicia Witt (Friday Night Lights), Gabriel Hogan (Heartland and King) and veteran actor Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride).
Posted in Movies, Recommendations, Reminder, Television, Video on December 3, 2014| 3 Comments »
On December 7 and 8, the Lifetime two-night mini-series The Rent Tent will air at 9 PM (both nights).
The mini tells the sweeping tale that takes place during the times of the Old Testament, told through the eyes of Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob. It begins with Dinah’s (Rebecca Ferguson from The White Queen) happy childhood spent inside the red tent where the women of her tribe gather and share the traditions and turmoil of ancient womanhood.
The film recounts the story of Dinah’s mothers Leah (Minnie Driver), Rachel (Morena Baccarin from Firefly and Homeland), Zilpah and Bilhah, the four wives of Jacob (Iain Glen from Game of Thrones). Dinah matures and experiences an intense love that subsequently leads to a devastating loss, and the fate of her family is forever changed. Debra Winger (Terms of Endearment) portrays Rebecca, Jacob’s mother while Tudor stars as Joseph, Dinah’s brother.
The cast also includes Sean Teale (Reign), Will Tudor (Game of Thrones) and Sheila Vand (State of Affairs).
Here is a trailer for the two-night mini-series event The Red Tent.
Posted in Movies, Recommendations, Reminder, Television, Video on December 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »
The Christmas Secret is the new holiday movie to debut on December 7 at 9 PM on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.
Bethany Joy Lenz (One Tree Hill) and John Reardon (Continuum and When Calls the Heart) star in the film based on the best-selling novel by Donna VanLierre that follows a struggling single mom’s search for a lost family heirloom that she hopes will help her find love and good fortune in time for Christmas.
The cast includes Michael Hogan (Battlestar Galactica) and b (Bitten).
Here is a trailer for The Christmas Secret.
Posted in Movies, Recommendations, Reminder, Television, Video on December 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »
The Lifetime original movie Wally Lamb’s Wishin’ and Hopin’ will debut on December 6 at 8 PM.
Based on the New York Times best-selling Christmas novel by Wally Lamb is this new movie set in the 1960s, focusing on 10-year-old Felix Funicello, who is doing his best to navigate fifth grade at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parochial School. His father (Danny Nucci from The Fosters) runs the local diner, and their family’s claim to fame is their cousin, Annette Funicello (Krysta Rodriguez from Smash), the famous teen star and Mouseketeer. With the dreaded Christmas pageant on the horizon, the holiday season gets even more exciting with the sudden arrivals of a substitute teacher (Molly Ringwald) and a feisty Russian student. It promises to be one Christmas Felix will never forget.
The film also star Meat Loaf (Fight Club), Annabella Sciorra (CSI), Cheri Oteri (Saturday Night Live), Conchata Ferrell (Two and a Half Men) and Chevy Chase as the narrator.
Here is a trailer for Wishin’ and Hopin’.
Posted in Movies, Recommendations, Reminder, Television, Video on December 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »
The Hallmark Channel original holiday movie Mr. Miracle will debut on December 6 at 8 PM.
Based on the Debbie Macomber best-selling novel franchise, this back-door pilot will star Rob Morrow (Northern Exposure and Numb3rs) as angel-in-training Harry Mills, (aka Mr. Miracle), who is sent down to a community college during Christmas for his first assignment: to help an insecure student realize her true purpose in life. Harry, living as a literature teacher, is also schooled in lessons of life and love as he realizes that dealing with humans is not as easy as it looks like from the clouds.
The cast includes Michelle Harrison (The Flash and Continuum) and Britt Irvin (Supernatural and Smallville).
Posted in Movies, Recommendations, Reminder, Television, Video on December 1, 2014| Leave a Comment »
The two-night, four-hour event series One Child will air on Sundance TV on December 5 and December 6 at 9 PM (both nights).
The film follows the journey of a Chinese-born young woman adopted by British parents as she struggles in the face of crisis to determine her family loyalties, true identity and the meaning of family.
The cast includes Katie Leung (the Harry Potter franchise), Elizabeth Perkins (Weeds) and Donald Sumpter (Game of Thrones).
Here is a trailer for One Child.
Posted in Movies, News on November 28, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Based on information provided by the Box Office Mojo and some internet research, here are just some of the movies you can expect to see in the movie theatres in December:
Comet
Opens: December 5
Hurtling back and forth in time over six years of a passionate, complicated relationship, this high-style love story crackles with brilliant repartee and simmers with true feeling. The bright, skeptical Kimberly, and the tightly wound Dell first meet in a random encounter at Hollywood Forever Cemetery where they’ve both come to watch a meteor shower. It’s the start of a romantic roller coaster ride that leaps from a Paris tryst to a squabble in New York to the Hollywood Hills, taking risky and unexpected emotional turns with daredevil aplomb. The cast includes Emmy Rossum, Justin Long and Eric Winter.
Life Partners
Opens: December 5
This comedy is about a co-dependent friendship between two very different girls—straight type-A Paige (Gillian Jacobs) and lesbian slacker Sasha (Leighton Meester). All is fine until Paige meets Tim (Adam Brody), a young and charming doctor. As the relationship heats up, Paige and Sasha have to learn how to work Tim into their friendship. The cast includes Greer Grammer, Mark Feuerstein and Gabourey Sidibe.
Wild
Opens: December 5
Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) decides to hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail alone, as a way to heal herself, following her divorce, the death of her mother, and years of reckless, destructive behavior. The cast includes Laura Dern, Thomas Sadoski, Michiel Huisman, Gaby Hoffman and Brian Van Holt.
Exodus: Gods and Kings
Opens: December 12
This is a Ridley Scott production about defiant leader Moses (Christian Bale as he rises up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses (Joel Edgerton), setting 600,000 slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues. The cast includes Aaron Paul, John Turturro, Ben Kingsley and Sigourney Weaver.
Annie
Opens: December 19
In contemporary New York City, Annie (Quvenzhane Wallis0 is an orphan/foster child living under the cruelty of Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz). While out on the streets, Annie is saved from an oncoming van by Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx), a wealthy politician who is running for mayor. The cast includes Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb
Opens: December 19
When the magic powers of The Tablet of Ahkmenrah begin to die out, Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) spans the globe, uniting favorite and new characters while embarking on an epic quest to save the magic before it is gone forever. The film also stars the late Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Dan Stevens, Ben Kingsley, Rebel Wilson, Ricky Gervais and Rachael Harris.
The Gambler
Opens: December 19
A literature professor with a gambling problem runs afoul of gangsters. The cast includes Mark Wahlberg, Brie Larson, John Goodman, Jessica Lange and Richard Schiff.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Opens: December 19
Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) and his Company of Dwarves have unwittingly unleashed a deadly force into the world. Enraged, Smaug rains his wrath down upon the men, women, and children of Lake-town. Meanwhile, unseen by almost everyone but the wizard Gandalf, the enemy Sauron has returned to Middle-Earth and has sent forth legions of Orcs in an attack upon the Lonely Mountain. The film also stars Ian Holm, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Lee Pace, Aidan Turner and Graham McTavish.
American Sniper
Opens: December 25
U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) is sent to Iraq on a mission to protect his brothers-in-arms. The cast includes Sienna Miller, Max Charles, Luke Grimes, Kyle Gallner and Sam Jaeger.
Big Eyes
Opens: December 25
Margaret Keane’s (Amy Adams) work as an artist became phenomenally successful in the 1950s, but Margaret was given no recognition for her work. Her husband, Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz), claimed to be the artist and became a national celebrity and talk show fixture in the 1950s after he pioneered the mass production of prints of big-eyed kids, and used his marketing savvy to sell them cheaply in hardware stores and gas stations across the USA. Margaret generated the paintings from their basement and Walter’s contribution was adding his signature to the bottom. The ruse broke up their marriage, and when she tried to make it known that she authored the paintings, they ended up in a court battle after Walter called her crazy. The case culminated in a dramatic courtroom showdown. The film also stars Krysten Ritter, Danny Huston, Terence Stamp and Jason Schwartzman.
Into the Woods
Opens: December 25
Set in an alternate world of various Grimm fairy tales, the film intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales and follows them to explore the consequences of the characters’ wishes and quests. The main characters are taken from Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel and Cinderella as well as several others. When a Baker and his Wife learn they’ve been cursed childless by a Witch, they must embark into the woods to find the objects required to break the spell and begin a family. The film is tied together to the original story of the baker and his wife and, their interaction with the Witch who has placed a curse on them, and their interaction with other storybook characters during their journey. What begins as a lively irreverent fantasy musical eventually becomes a meaningful tale about responsibility, the problems that come from wishes, and the legacy that we leave our children. The cast includes Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine and Johnny Depp.
Selma
Opens: December 25
Martin Luther King (David Oyelowo), Lyndon Baines Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) and the civil rights marches that changed America. The cast includes Tim Roth, Common, Carmen Ejogo, Lorraine Toussaint, Oprah Winfrey, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Giovanni Ribisi, Tessa Thompson, Dylan Baker and Martin Sheen.
Unbroken
Opens: December 25
This film about World War II hero Louis “Louie” Zamperini (Jack O’Connell), a former Olympic track star, who survived a plane crash in the Pacific, spent 47 days drifting on a raft, and then more than two and a half years living in several Japanese prisoner of war camps was directed by Angelina Jolie. The cast includes Garrett Hedlund, Jai Courtney and Domhnall Gleeson.
Movies coming out in January will be posted at the end of December.
Enjoy!
Posted in Movies, Recommendations, Reminder, Television, Video on November 26, 2014| Leave a Comment »
The next Hallmark Hall of Fame movie One Christmas Eve will air on the Hallmark Channel on November 30 at 8 PM.
Anne Heche stars as a recently divorced mom who wants her two kids’ first Christmas “without dad” to be perfect. An entertaining but unfortunate series of Christmas Eve mishaps ensures that won’t happen – unless perfect means the family has its most memorable and heartwarming Christmas ever.
The cast includes Carlos Gomez (The Glades).
Posted in Movies, Recommendations, Reminder, Television, Video on November 26, 2014| Leave a Comment »
The ION holiday movie A Christmas Mystery will air on November 30 at 9 PM.
While searching through her late mother’s attic, Rebecca uncovers sealed cards from a mysterious suitor that had been addressed to her widowed Mom over the past 12 Christmases. As she begins to wonder the identity of man, Rebecca hires a handsome, yet mysterious detective Andrew to help solve the mystery behind the letters. While working to unravel the family mystery, Rebecca and Andrew begin to fall for one another, but soon learn there’s more to the case than either expected.
The cast includes Esmé Bianco (Game of Thrones), Ryan Bittle (All My Children) and veteran actor John Ratzenberger (Cheers).
Click “Watch Preview” for A Christmas Mystery here.
Posted in Movies, Recommendations, Reminder, Television, Video on November 26, 2014| Leave a Comment »
The original UP Channel movie The Tree That Saved Christmas will debut on November 30 at 7 PM.
Imaginative, hard-working Molly Logan (Lacey Chabert from Party of Five) grew up on her family’s generations-old Christmas tree farm in rural Vermont and would often write stories about individual trees as they shipped out, her favorite being a “Charlie Brown” tree struggling to grow. One day, after hearing the roar of buzz saws used to clear the woods of sickly saplings, nine-year-old Molly ran to save her favorite – even after her father Gordon and his crew had made a gash in its trunk. She knew that someday this little tree would have a tale to tell.
Now 29, Molly is pursuing her writing career in Manhattan. Unfortunately as Pendant Publishing CEO Walter Dunlap’s assistant, Molly has no life and little chance to write. She’s devastated to learn from her architect brother Ryan that the bank is foreclosing on her parents’ heritage tree farm. This will be her family’s last Christmas there. However, a frustrated Molly can’t make it home thanks to obligations to her boss and his young daughters.
Much to her shock, Molly discovers that the Christmas tree she ordered for the Dunlap home is that same one she saved years ago. Certain that it is the same tree from her youth – and a sign – Molly drags the pine back to her Vermont home and embarks upon a plan to save the family farm – with some surprising, inventive help from her brother and former boyfriend/banker Lucas (Corey Sevier from Cedar Cove).
Rueben's Ramblings 